what is your loading routine?

[Blanco]

So I have been trying to perfect my re-loading sequence so that is the most efficient.
in a lot of cases I use range brass for my re-loads. For that reason I tend to over process it a bit.
First I decap and stainless tumble.
Next I polish tumble in walnut shell with a bit of car polish. The reason for this is I really like the slick cases as they work easily in the dies.
Then I lube and re-size the cases. I wipe off as much lube as possible, then I re-tumble in walnut to remove lube from inside the case neck.
I give all of them a good look over to find any defects, and toss the suspect cases.
I use a Lee Classic Cast Turret press, but I hand prime all my cases. Then I weigh each powder charge and the seat the bullet and crimp if necessary
So the last two steps are in quick succession.
I know there are always different ways to do any process. Do you have any suggestions? Is your method better? explain why !

[Bayou52]

Decap,
SS tumble,
FL size,
Trim, chamfer and debur,
Insert primers,
Flare case mouths where called for,
Charge cases with powder and projectiles,
Seat to proper depth, and
Where needed, crimp with a Lee Factory Crimp die (knowing that not all cases need to be crimped).

Bayou52

[Blanco]

I left off trim and deburr... but I do that too

[Butler Ford]

Range pickup and brass bought from unknown sources or my own first reload:
deprime/inspect
SS tumble
anneal
uniform primer pocket
debur flash hole
full length resize
trim to length
chamfer and debur
walnut tumble
inspect primer hole and prime
M die/case mouth expand
weigh and charge
seat boolit
crimp/remove expansion on case mouth
haven't started turning case necks yet but will start soon.

BF

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Depends on if it's rifle or pistol brass we're talking about here.

[1911KY]

I only load pistol currently, so, deprime, wet tumble with SS pins, air dry, sort brass as needed. I mainly load on a LNL AP so after filling the powder hopper and picking up primers, I start loading! Each piece of brass is inspected as I place it on the shellplate and every powder charge is verified before a bullet is placed. I am currently running a Lyman M die before my powder drop.

Almost forgot, my cadence or routine, prime on every down stroke, then place new brass and then place a bullet.

[bangerjim]

decap
flair/fill with powder with the Lee combo die
seat boolit
Lee FCD on semi's - standard crimp on others.

I do not tubmle the dickens out of my brass. Just wipe it off when decaping. Shiny brass does not increase you accuracy, so who cares? I can't understand this madness for SST pins.

I only use case lube on bottle necks. Last time I checked carbide is much harder than the case brass!

Mine load and shoot perfectly with non-shiny brass.

banger

[dragon813gt]

Tumble, FL Size/Decap(prime on downstroke), Charge, Expand, Seat/Crimp

There are more steps w/ reloading for rifle. No point in spending lots of wasted effort w/ pistol loads. You won't ever see it on target.

[jcwit]

Deprime
Size
Tumble in corn cob
Check cases, trim if necessary, Pistol brass does not get trimed
Prime
Charge with powder measure, 1st 5 throws get weighed
Seat and crimp.
Done

Off to the range they go

[georgerkahn]

My sequence:
[] Decap brass
[] Anneal if needed
[] Primer pocket clean
[] Clean brass
[] Imperial wax
[] Full length size
[] Rub off wax
[] Trim to length
[] De-burr
[] Flash uniform
[] Neck Expand
[] “M” Neck
[] Prime
[] Add Powder
[] Seat bullet
[] Factory crimp
[] De-wax
[] Wilson gauge
[] Label, store

[EDG]

[] Decap brass with a hand punch
[] Primer pocket clean
[] Clean brass - Wash in soapy water .
[] Dry by rinsing in alcohol and placing in front of a fan for 15 minutes
[] Imperial wax
[] Full length size - Gauge it as I go
[] Trim to length - Only if the cases are uneven and are approaching the measured length of my chambers.
Most of my brass is allowed to grow longer than specification.
[] Deburr
[] Flash hole uniform only the first time reloaded. If the brass is a premium brand I skip this.
[] Clean metal chips and case lube off by washing in isopropyl alcohol
[] Neck Expand
Can store at this point for later use.
[] Hand Prime
[] Add Powder
[] Seat bullet
[] Factory crimp if required
[] Label, store

[] Annealing is not part of my loading process but it is usually done after cleaning and before FL sizing.

[gloob]

I break things down into different processes.

CLEANING AND SORTING:
1. Sort brass by caliber
2. Tumble:
a. Wash by dipping a strainer full into a 5 gallon bucket of water with just a dash of dish soap and swishing vigorously for several seconds.
b. Strain off excess water
c. Dump wet cases into tumbler with corn cob treated with Nu Finish and mineral spirits. Tumble until dry and clean - approx. 45 minutes.
d. Separate cases from media and store in open container. Dry in oven if I need to use right away - to make sure the primer pockets are dry.

PREPPING PISTOL BRASS:
1. Using clean cases, I size/decap/prime in a single operation on my SS press. While putting in the case with my left hand, I am inserting the primer into the primer arm with my right hand. The lever on my Challenger is set to the height of the frame, so I am squeezing each primer in with my fingers wrapped around the front of the O frame, ball of the lever on my palm. Better feel than a hand primer.
2. Flare cases:
a. Turn shellholder to point to the right
b. Set a bin to the right of my press
c. Inserting the next case causes the previous case to fall into the bin.
d. While flaring, I feel for resistance. If no resistance, I examine case. This usually means the wrong caliber or a cracked neck.
3. Record in reloading log and store labeled brass.

PREPPING RIFLE BRASS:
1. Lube cases:
a. Spray a pump or two of lube into a plastic bag
b. Insert cases and knead the bag - getting no lube into the case necks.
c. Dump cases into a bin and let dry for a minute
2. Size/decap with a decapping pin but without expanding. As with flaring pistol cases, I set the shellholder to the right, and inserting the next case causes the previous case to fall into the bin on the right. I have to plug the ram of my Challenger with a custom insert to make the spent primers collect, normally. The primer arm would hit the bin.
3. Delube cases with a cake pan, a paper towel, and some alcohol.
a. Put paper towel in the bottom of the pan
b. Douse with alcohol
c. Add a layer of cases and roll around for a few seconds.
d. Dump cases and add another handful; repeat until done
4. Trim cases
5. Flare/prime with Lyman M die. If no resistance, I toss it. If the primer doesn't start easily, I take it out, chamfer the pocket, and try again.
6. Record in reloading log and store labeled brass.


CHARGING AND SEATING:
1. Take prepped cases and either
a. fill them with a dipper and then put them on a loading block
or b. Put them on a loading block and then fill them with my modified powder measure
2. Check powder levels on the loading block
3. Seat bullets + or - crimp
4. if necessary, add taper crimp in a separate step.
5. Record in reloading log and label ammo.

I am rarely doing more than one of these processes on any given day. Prepping rifle brass might even be done over the course of several days. At no point do I clean a primer pocket.

[w5pv]

After the cleaning,priming,etc,Iturn all the cases with the primers turned up charge one at a time.Check to see that the case is charged and after I get through with that I take flashlight and recheck the charges and then reinspect as I get ready to seat the boolit.Afther the correct OAL is reached,I check the OAL about every 10th shell for the OAL change if any.

[Love Life]

1) Look at large box of dirty brass
2) Contemplate working on brass
3) Go have a smoke
4) Come back to box of dirty brass and move box to another part of garage
5) Go find something else to do for the next 5 minutes
6) Trip over large box of brass
7) Sigh in resignation and gather plastic coffee cans
8) Fill coffee cans to brim with dirty brass
9) Add a scoop of citric acid and squirt of soap
10) Look around in boredom as the water heats up
11) Water is hot, fill coffee cans to cover brass
12) Go have a smoke while the brass soaks
13) Dump water from brass into sink
14) Take brass to garage and dump on a large towel
15) Fold towel and shake the brass up, transfer brass to a new towel
16) Go find something to do until the next morning
17) Dump brass into tumbler and turn tumbler on
18) Go find something to do for the next 4 hours
19) Check brass, if still dirty give it more time. If clean, go make the wife stop what she is doing and come see how well your method works
20) Put clean brass in marked bins

[1911KY]

Haha!!:-D

You can actually get your wife to look at anything related to reloading?!!!

[dudel]

Do you remove crimp? More and more of the range pickup I see, now has crimped primers. Not just 223; more and more 9mm.

[twc1964]

I tumble, size with sizing wax, deburr primer pocket, trim with my possum hollow trimmer, deburr mouth, prime and load. After all prep is done, i charge and seat bullet before moving on to the next case. Just my way, ymmv

[Bayou52]

How about this for a succinct summary of all of the above sequences:

1. Shoot,

2. Reload,

3. Shoot again.

Bayou52

[Blanco]

The reason I asked this question is that I sometimes feel I'm doing things out of order or that there is a better or more efficient way.
I know for fact I could do MUCH less and still get ammo that shoots just as good. I just like really clean brass

133551133552

[Bayou52]

That's some nice and clean brass, Blanco.

Here's a snap of a recently wet tumbled batch of 223s. I like clean brass, too.

[tward]

1. Deprime brass with Lee universal die
2. Wet tumble brass w SS pins soap citric acid
3. Dry brass w towel air dry overnight
4. FL size brass
5. Flair cases
6. Prime cases
7. Store for next reloading
cases are inspected at each step.
Tim:bigsmyl2:

[Blanco]

I was looking thru some of that batch in my picture and found some Lake City stamps from 43 an 45 and quite a few from the 50's